Frasco on family leave
TOURISM Secretary Christina Frasco is going on leave starting this week.
This was confirmed by the Department of Tourism (DOT) yesterday adding Undersecretary Elaine Bathan would be the acting officer-in-charge while the Secretary is having a vacation with her family.
The leave was filed even before the tourism rebranding slogan “Love the Philippines” received flak from the public.
The DOT stressed “the application of the leave of the Secretary was filed and received by the Office of the President on May 9. This was approved last May 23, 2023” the DOT responded.
The DOT added “the purpose of the short leave beginning July 13-21 consisting of only seven working days, is to spend time with her young family.”
Frasco is set to attend the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 24, 2023, the DOT said.
“She is confirmed to attend the SONA. Any insinuation to the contrary is false,” the DOT pointed out.
Recently, the DOT said Frasco will continue to lead the agency’s initiatives after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed his trust and confidence on the tourism chief despite receiving criticisms as a result of the botched campaign to promote the Philippines.
The DOT’s tourism rebranding which was launched recently received flak from the public for using stock video footage from other countries.
This prompted the DOT to immediately terminate its P49 million contract with the advertising agency DDB Philippines.
The DDB Philippines apologized and admitted to using “non-original/stock footage” of travel destinations from Thailand, Indonesia and United Arab Emirates.
